My Daughter's A Magician!

Yesterday, Cali and I went on our annual shopping adventure to Park City to begin our Christmas Madness! Each November we head up the canyon with our neighbor to SHOP, SHOP, SHOP. This year, our neighbor decided to bring along her 9 year-old daughter, so I invited Nyah along to keep her daughter company. Nyah was thrilled to be invited along, until she remembered that she gets carsick every time we drive 2 miles to the grocery store. She requested Dramamine, but then changed her mind when I reminded her that she acts “loopy” all day when she takes it. She decided to try the trip without any drugs. As we turned the corner to pick up our friends (we’d gone about ½ mile), Nyah smiled and said, “Mom, guess what?! I’m not carsick!” Wow! Nyah is one of a kind!

After about 3 1/2 hours of perfect behavior, the girls started getting hungry and a little antsy. They wanted to go play at the park that is located in the middle of the Outlets. I didn’t see any harm in that. Nyah is a good listener and usually stays put. I reminded her and her friend not to talk to strangers, not to leave the park, and to be nice to all the “little” kids. I went shopping for another ½ hour and then went back to check on them. The girls were so excited when I walked up. “We have to show you a magic trick!” I followed them towards a little Merry-Go-Round, the kind that costs 50 cents and goes around in a circle for about 1 ½ minutes. “Watch this!” The girls hopped on the horses and started rocking their horses back and forth with the force of their bodies. After about 20 seconds of violent rocking, the carousel started up! Each time the ride ended, the girls would rock back and forth again, until the ride started back up. I watched a couple of rounds of this, told the girls “Congratulations” on being so inventive, and told them to come back to the stores with me. “But we want to keep playing on the Merry-Go-Round! We love it!”

“What about other kids that want to ride it?”

“Oh, every time someone else wants to ride, we let them get on and we magically start the ride up for them!”

What a dilemma! Should I explain to the girls that they should really be depositing money for these fun rides? Should I tell them that the carousel would never be the same after the beatings it was taking from the violent start-up action, or should I let them continue believing they were “magicians” so that I could keep shopping? Being the great mom that I am, I chose . . .

Shopping with children has never been so easy!!